Free Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy by DelSheree Gladden

classroom.
The torture that is Spiritualism is almost over, but I’m willing to suffer for
a few minutes in order to get away from him right now. Before pulling the door
open, I look back at him over my shoulder and say, “I can’t believe you got me
detention. I’m not going to forget this.”
    His smile shows teeth in a feline smirk.
“Neither will I .”
     
     

 
    Chapter 7
    Reason
     
    My body relaxes as Milo slows down and makes the
turn into the parking lot of the motel I am currently living in. It’s a small,
unattractive place to live, but I like it. I could afford a better place thanks
to the trust fund left to me by my dad, but this is where I feel safest. I let
out a held breath when the car finally stops.
    Holding onto the door handle when Milo drives
hurts his feelings, so I try not to, but cruising down the freeway at just over
one hundred miles per hour makes me nervous. That may be putting it lightly. I
know Milo’s unlocked Speed and Strength give him the capability to drive that
fast without putting us in any real danger of wrecking, but it still freaks me
out. I start breathing again as he pulls into the parking space right in front
of my room.
    When he cuts the engine, Milo reaches for my
hand. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay? I’m in no hurry to get back.”
    My lips curl up in a smile. I would love for him
to stay. “As nice as that sounds, I’m exhausted. Working with your mom tonight
was…” How do I wrap up my lessons with her tonight nicely? “It was very
frustrating, to say the least.”
    “I know dealing with my mom can be
excruciatingly painful sometimes.”
    His hand tightens around mine. The argument Milo
and his mom got into tonight when she tried to work with Milo on his own
Spiritualism makes me cringe when I think about it. Neither one of them can say
more than two words to each other lately without it starting a fight. They are
so different from each other in personality and tactics that it’s a miracle
they’ve managed to live in the same house this long.
    Mrs. Hanover expects everything to go so
perfectly every time she sits down to work with him. Milo’s Spiritualism is as
strong as hers, but it takes finesse to use it. The fact that Milo leans more
toward brute force in using his talents sets her teeth on edge and she ends up
snapping at him constantly. Milo can’t stand the way she tries to guide him
like a two-year-old and gets angry at her for treating him as if he isn’t
capable of doing anything on his own. Finding a new Spiritualism teacher would
help Milo as much as it would me.
    “It wasn’t all bad,” Milo says. “You did make
some progress tonight. You should be happy about that, at least.”
    “Sure, I finally managed to reach my own spirit
tonight, but that’s as far as I got. It’s nothing compared to where I need to
be.” My head falls back against the headrest in frustration. “The second I
started pushing my spirit out of my body toward the Ciphers, it’s as if it
turns into a too-small rubber band that refuses to stretch as far as I need it
to go. It just keeps snapping back at me.”
    “A rubber band, huh? Mine feels like a runaway
train.”
    I attempt a smile at his humor, but it doesn’t
go very far. “It totally fits with my track record that the one place I want to
send my spirit is the exact place it seems determined to stay away from.”
    “You found my spirit, too. That was huge, and
pretty cool.”
    After pushing so hard at the spirit world, my
spirit actually seemed willing to go somewhere else. I did touch Milo’s spirit,
but only after I had found Lance’s. I think contacting Lance’s spirit was made
much easier by the Guardian Oath connection between us. Milo was picking up
Celia from dance at the time, but I didn’t mention that part to him when he got
back. I had tried touching Milo’s spirit before and wasn’t successful. I didn’t
want to hurt his feelings that I found Lance’s so easily.
    I sigh.